State lawmakers want to know whether the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is inflating the cost and time it would take to keep invasive species out of the Great Lakes.
As The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Jake Neher reports, legislators will question Army Corps officials in Lansing Tuesday.
Many state officials and environmental groups say separating the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River is the best way to make sure Asian carp and other species don’t get in. But the Army Corps of Engineers released a report last month saying that would take more than two decades and up to 18 billion dollars to complete.
State Senator Geoff Hansen says they can’t wait that long to do something about the threat of Asian carp.
“The timeframe that they put out was – I felt it was a little long,” he says. “I mean, they’re talking a 25 year timeframe for separation of the water bodies. So that’s a concern.”
Critics of the report say it factors in projects that have little to do with preventing the spread of invasive species.